Fresh details on the Splinter Cell animated series coming to Netflix have been shared by writer Derek Kolstad.
In an interview with Collider, Kolstad shared that the first season had been officially greenlit for eight episodes, although he anticipates 16 episodes total. He also shared he is aiming for episodes to be about 20-30 minutes long.
The Nobody scribe then went on to share how the Splinter Cell series could inspire cool animation sequences:
"Those are some of my favorite games, as it leaned into the covert, the stealth of it all. And yet, when you got a kill, it was more satisfying than Commando with a bulletproof hedge. I would much rather do something where you kind of feel like, 'Oh, he's about to get caught.' And you realize no, that's part of his... the brinkmanship. The chess game he's playing and these various things. And because of these guys and what they've done in the past with seamless sizzle reels, it really comes down to the light and dark of it all. It's glorious, man."
"Animation is fucking cool, dude. You send in a script, and they make it. It isn't a matter of casting this, this, this, or that. It's like, 'What do you want to do, Derek?' 'I think this would be cool.' 'That would be cool!' We start it. Now, it takes forever because it's animation, but still, that kind of playtime is fun," said Kolstad, who has liked what he's seen from the animation team thus far. "They came to me with the animatics going, 'Hey, this is what we want to do.' I'm like, 'That's cool, let's play.'
Now that Kolstad has fans salivating over the possibilities, they’ll have to practice patience as the likelihood of the series debuting sometime in 2021 seems far-fetched. Kolstad’s full quote is below:
"Probably two years. Probably, no, about 18 months. These things, from inception to execution, are 18 months to two years. My job will be done in probably six months with the other writers. And yet you're always on standby to go, like, 'This isn't working. This line sucks. The actor wants to do something cool.' But I also believe that, especially in animation, if they can have all the episodes in hand going into it, I make their job easier, too."
